Capital Punishment in the United States, 1973-2008 (ICPSR 27982)

This data collection provides annual data on prisoners
under a sentence of death and prisoners whose offense sentences were
commuted or vacated during the period 1973-2008. Information is
supplied for basic sociodemographic characteristics such as age, sex,
education, and state of incarceration. Criminal history data include
prior felony convictions for criminal homicide and legal status at the
time of the capital offense. Additional information is available for
inmates removed from death row by... (more info)

This data collection provides annual data on prisoners
under a sentence of death and prisoners whose offense sentences were
commuted or vacated during the period 1973-2008. Information is
supplied for basic sociodemographic characteristics such as age, sex,
education, and state of incarceration. Criminal history data include
prior felony convictions for criminal homicide and legal status at the
time of the capital offense. Additional information is available for
inmates removed from death row by year-end 2008 and for inmates who
were executed.

Access to these data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reasons for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.

Dataset(s)

Study Description

Citation

United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Capital Punishment in the United States, 1973-2008. ICPSR27982-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2010-09-07. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR27982.v1

The inmate identification numbers were assigned by
the Bureau of the Census and have no purpose outside this data collection.

Methodology

Mode of Data Collection:
mail questionnaire

Data Source:

official prison records

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: